You might think the strategies to catch criminals used by gumshoe
detectives and cyber cops are worlds apart, but the investigation into
the hack of Bottle Domains demonstrated that they share a common
heritage.

Follow the money. Be adaptive. These were but some established police
tactics used by Federal Police technical specialist Alex Tilley to nail
the hacker and money man behind the 2007 hack which was made public two
years later.

Two men were charged in 2009 for cracking Bottleâs network and
attempting to sell a database containing some 70,000 domains and 13,000
credit card numbers. The hacker served a reduced six month sentence,
while the seller received a good behaviour bond.

But the fallout from the hack could have been huge. The hacker at the
time worked for an IT services company employed by Bottle Domains. He
had exploited his insider knowledge to break into the company and had
planned to sell the stolen database.